Street Food, Foot Massages and Khao San Road

After a two hour flight from Krakow to Dusseldorf, a three hour layover and a ten and a half hour flight to Bangkok you can imagine that we were pretty exhausted. I had imagined that the visa process might be tricky due to having a one way ticket to Thailand with no proof of onward travel but we strolled right through immigration snagging our free 30-day tourist visa on arrival. That was easy!

The airport express bus dropped us off right across the street from Khao San Road even though I had asked to be let off at Wat Rachanatda, a temple located within two minutes of our reserved accommodations for the night. Due to the fact that we had just arrived in Thailand and we’re running on no sleep and all adrenaline, we thought “Oh well, we’ll just walk.”

After 20 minutes or so we stumbled upon our hostel that we booked for the night. We only booked one night in case we didn’t like the place just to be safe. We figured that worst case we could spend the night and then look for something else in the meantime.

As soon as we walked through the doors we felt right at home. The staff were incredibly helpful and the check-in process was more than easy. This is exactly what we needed after such a long day of travel. It was just after noon time when we were shown to our room and before we knew it we were fast asleep. A few hours later we awoke with more energy than before. It must have been the thrill of just being in Bangkok that was running through our minds.

As we made our way to Khao San Road our minds were fixed on finding out more about the food that is served on the carts that line the streets of Bangkok. We we’re  starving and boy did we find our fix!

Our first glimpses of Khao San Road were full of lights, shops, food carts, pubs, and more. It was tough to focus due to the fact that there is so much to see on this road and every minute that goes by it seems to change drastically. When I say you can buy anything on this road, I mean literally anything. From food, drinks, clothes, fake identification cards and certifications (TEFL, University Diplomas, etc), brass knuckles, Chinese throwing stars, tattoos, dread locks, massages, and so much more that I could go on for days. Picture one long road that is lit up like Las Vegas at night with prices that would suit any budget.

Our first stop was at one of the many Pad Thai food carts that line Khao San Rd. Liz treated herself to a plate of Chicken Pad Thai for 40thb ($1.26 usd). I wasn’t too sure at first so I let Liz test it out. Once I got my hands on the plate, I ended up finishing it. After our cheap dinner we headed over to Rambuttri Rd which runs parallel to Khao San Road and I treated myself to a banana-chocolate panacake for a mere $0.79 cents.

We made our way down Rambuttri and crossed over to the Northern side where we landed at a Thai Massage parlor. Liz thought it would be nice to treat ourselves to a foot massage after more than 15 hours of traveling and what a great idea that was. We enjoyed every second of our 30-minute foot massage. Although the foot massage ended up turning into a calf and upper leg massage and before it was over we experienced a short back and neck massage as well. All of this was included in the price of 100thb ($3.17 usd).

After our massage we were just about ready for bed again. We decided to take one last stroll down Khao San Road in the direction of our hostel and once again we were drawn in by all of the items for sale. You just can’t resist looking and haggling with the shop keepers, especially after learning how to haggle during our travels to Egypt!

On our walk home we were sure that we had spotted more than a few lady-boys along the way, a sight that is very common here in Thailand considering it’s the sex reassignment capital of the world or what some would call the sex change capital of the world.

[mappress]